Storm's Tumble Continues, Part 2

Additional thoughts, interviews, and discussion on Seattle's loss to Las Vegas

The Seattle Storm (16-15) haven’t been able to stop their negative momentum. Seattle lost their 4th game in a row, this time to the Las Vegas Aces (17-14) by a final score of 90-86. With the win, Las Vegas leapfrogs Seattle in the WNBA standings. If you missed it earlier, you can read my full game recap at the link here.

In Part 2, I’ve talked about how important this weekend is, Brittney Sykes’ debut, and how the Storm are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, and what that means for the team’s future. I’ve also included several quotes and the post-game interviews, available in both audio and video formats.

Important Weekend

This feels like a make-or-break weekend for the Seattle Storm. Unfortunately, after losing to the Las Vegas Aces, they are off to a poor start. Seattle needs to find a way to get back in the win column quickly. This would have been a great opportunity to get back on track by handing Las Vegas and Los Angeles losses. For the good of the franchise moving forward, they need the Sparks and Aces to lose as many games as possible. Although unlikely, considering how good they’ve been as of late, it is still possible the Sparks could miss the playoffs this year. If that were to happen, Seattle would be guaranteed a lottery selection.

The Storm control their own fate. They played the Sparks three more times to end this season, but they messed up by losing that game last Friday in double overtime. Even still, if Seattle can somehow find a way to beat them two more times, it could help their chances of maintaining the lottery pick.

This weekend is also important because the Sparks play the Valkyries on Saturday and then the Storm on the second of a back-to-back on Sunday. The Valkyries are the only team that realistically has a shot to beat out the Sparks for the last playoff spot. Now that Washington has traded away Brittney Sykes and Aaliyah Edwards.

LA then faces the New York Liberty on Tuesday. Over the next few days should give us an idea of where things stand. If the Sparks drop all three, there is more hope. If they win all three, we can (basically) guarantee they’ll be a playoff team. Speaking of which…

Storm Might Miss the Playoffs

Seattle is not playing well. But it’s not just these past four games that they’ve lost in a row. They haven’t been playing well for a full month now. The Storm haven’t won consecutive games in over a month. They are legitimately playing like one of the four or five worst teams in the WNBA.

Ideally, the addition of Brittney Sykes will swing the momentum back to Seattle’s side. Hopefully, she can bring them energy and an extra burst that they desperately need. But if she can’t, this team might just be completely broken.

The top four teams are starting to separate themselves in the standings ladder. The Storm have two crucial games against Atlanta coming up. Two wins against the Dream would give Seattle hope of finishing in the Top 5. However, if they lose to the Sparks and the Dream, the Storm’s season could be toast. Burnt toast. The kind you have to throw out because no amount of butter or jam is going to fix it.

There is no solace in seeing Seattle lose at this point, either. Before the Brittney Sykes trade, you could justify the losses by saying that “at least their draft pick will be better”, which will help the future. But now the only future they’ll be helping is the Washington Mystics’.

If Seattle were to miss the playoffs, the only positive would be that I feel it would give the organization a clearer picture of what to do next. That would call for a complete overhaul. It would be time to move on from the older aging core (Nneka and Skylar). And start building around Dominique Malonga, Ezi Magbegor, Jordan Horston, and their upcoming first-round picks. If they miss the playoffs in 2026, so be it. Then they would just have another lottery selection in a talented 2027 draft class. It would make sense to go with a completely new coaching staff as well.

It’s OK to play a longer game if they’re building the team the right way. The worst place the Storm can be is where they are currently. They aren’t good enough to win a championship, but they also aren’t so bad that they get to draft elite talent like Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, etc.

Brittney Sykes’ Debut

I thought Brittney Sykes did well in her Seattle Storm debut, especially in the 2nd half. Things were a bit rocky in the early going. She had just three points on 1-8 FG and two turnovers through the opening 20 minutes of the game. But she settled down and looked much better over the final two quarters.

Sykes scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half on 4-6 FG shooting. She also had five assists, zero turnovers, and two blocked shots. If they get that type of performance more often than not from Brittney, then she is going to be a welcome addition to the group.

I think a lot of her early struggles were probably from nerves and pressing too much. I’m sure it’s also because she’s not used to playing with this group of teammates, and she only got to participate in one practice before playing in this game. As she learns the offensive and defensive schemes more, she should be able to find her comfort zone within the offense.

Her ability to get downhill and get to the rim will help Seattle. Her defense is going to be a big plus and take pressure off of both Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams. I also really liked her ability to create for others. I thought she did a great job getting passes to Dom Malonga. While she isn’t a natural point guard, similar to Gabby, she is a playmaking guard/wing.

It’s difficult to say whether or not this will end up being a worthwhile trade. If the Storm miss the playoffs and send a lottery pick to the Washington Mystics, then obviously, it was a huge mistake. But I can’t fault the process, considering Seattle did have three first-round picks. I would grade the trade much harsher if the Storm only had one first-round pick in 2026.

I had the opportunity to speak with both Gabby Williams and Coach Noelle Quinn about what they saw from Brittney Sykes’ Storm debut.

Gabby told me, “And having Slim (Sykes) here has just been a great boost of energy that I think we need, not just on the court, but the intangibles as well. And just, you know, she instantly came in and started being a voice for us in a time that's been really rough part of our season, but just having kind of this new fresh energy did feel, feel great.”

Coach Quinn added, “Yeah, I mean, with one practice under her belt. You know, the explosiveness to the rim, her ability to get in the paint, and the free throw line. I think it continues to improve. She can also initiate and get us into offense. The ability to kind of seek out mismatches, guard or posts, give us another look, and a paint, paint attack. She picked up our stuff pretty quickly, and I think she's gonna continue to help us tremendously.”

Post-Game Press Conference

Player Interviews

Gabby Williams on Dominique Malonga’s performance.

Gabby stated, “Dom's been trending upwards for a while now and just playing above and beyond her age and experience right now. And she's a huge reason that we're able to stay in these kinds of games. And yeah, I mean, she's only going to get better from here. I think her having these kinds of games during close games are going to be huge for us going into this last part of the season. So, yeah, we're just going to keep pouring confidence into her. And she knows what to do. She knows how to handle it. And I'm not worried.”

On the team’s struggles to earn a win lately.

Williams said, “I think it's our third quarter. Honestly, I think it's how we're coming out at halftime. And then we end up digging ourselves out of a hole. We had this problem a bit at the beginning of the year. We had to kind of claw back. And so I think if we can just put 40 minutes together, our fourth quarter should be a lot easier. And also, we have to make sure that we're getting everybody going early so that everybody's feeling confident in that fourth quarter, too. So I think we need to be more cognizant of who we're getting touches for at the right time, making sure that we're running our offense correctly so we're not taking contested shots, and that kind of stays in your mind for the fourth. So I think the more solid we can play at the beginning of the game will ultimately help our fourth quarters.”

Malonga on her growth and confidence.

Dom replied, “I mean, yes, confidence comes with reps, and I'm getting more and more reps. I feel that coach trusts me more and more. My teammates trust me from day one. So now when I step on the court, I just know that I can bring also and I just try to do the simple thing, do what I'm good at, finishing in the paint, rebounding the ball, and set good screen, and do those things really well. That's what I'm excellent. So yeah, when I just step on the court, I focus on that, and it's working. So I just keep doing that. And the time I'm on the court, I try to do my best, and it's working.”

Gabby chimed in with, “She's also, I'm going to add this, she's also putting in more work than anybody right now. She's the first one in the gym, last one to leave. She's here on the off days. And it's really starting to show. Yeah, I think she needs credit with that. You know, having this kind of discipline that a vet player has been having at 19 years old is also why she's trending this way.”

On where the team is at mentally with the losing streak.

Gabby answered, “We're just trying to stay together as much as possible. We hate losing. We're all freaking sore losers on this team. We hate losing. This isn't something that we want to get used to. But I'm proud of ourselves for not kind of... succumbing to it and you can still feel that there's energy and that there's a fight and that we're trying to just become more and more closer to each other, so yeah I'm glad that during I mean i've played in this league for a long time and usually during these moments the team kind of goes their separate ways and people start finger pointing but right now it just feels like we're coming closer and trying to lift each other knowing that people are going through you know tough moments. So yeah, I think mentally we're growing.”

Coach’s Quotes

On Skylar Diggins’ struggles lately.

Coach Quinn said, “Sky's receiving, you know, different coverages. with other teams' best primary defender. She's still, you know, six assists, one turnover, still finding ways to try to impact the game. She's a competitor, and she will be better.”

Quinn was asked a similar question and added, “Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of physicality that's happening. Teams the way teams defend not only her, but our entire team. And there's definitely some physical toll that's happening. But she's a trooper. She's a warrior. We'll get her back right. She'll get herself back right to where we need her to be.”

Her thoughts on the overall game, getting down 19 points, rallying to tie it in the 4th, etc.

“A’ja was very intentional about getting to her left hand. You know, we had zero fast break points at half, so our pace was a little bit slow. We only had six deflections at half; our defense wasn’t as impactful. We were not in gaps when we needed to be, and just kind of weren't sharp on the defensive side of the ball. And that kind of impacted what we did offensively. Offensively, you know, at the beginning of the game, they were showing some blitzes. I thought we read them well. Ezi started the game, knocking down those threes, which was good. But then, you players at the three-point line, getting clean looks and having possessions back to back to back, kind of snowballed a little bit. That kind of really impacted us. To get us back into the game, I thought we were sharper with our coverages on A’ja contesting. I thought we were rebounding really well in the second half to limit them to one shot per possession, playing a little bit faster, and getting some really good looks early on, and obviously, the points in the paint mattered. That was our pick and roll execution that was our drives getting downhill, and our finishes, so getting to the free throw line is going to continue to be important for us as well. And I thought that we were pretty sharp in that area.” Quinn said.

On the bench’s season-high 36 points in this game.

“Yeah, it's important. We've been talking about it all year, bench, you know, whether it's me playing them or when they do have the opportunity, the productivity of that, Dom is going to continue to be one of the players who it's kind of spearheading that attack coming off the bench. And it gives us a variety to what we want to do offensively, opportunity to not overtax in minutes, and just the reps that they're getting is going to be important for now and down the stretch. So I'm going to continue to lean into the bench and our starters as well to give us the – against some, some variety to, to what we want to do offensively.”

On Malonga’s 20-point double-double performance.

Quinn said, “Yeah, I think so. It was a process and, you know, she understood that process we did as a group as well. Learning the league, learning how she can find ways to play well, play within herself, within our system, and what we want to do defensively, defending multiple positions from posts to guards. That just takes some time. And I think she's put the work in on court film sessions to really understand what we need from her. And she's growing up right before her eyes and going to continue to get better.”

Notes:
Thanks for all the great support! Please share my coverage with other WNBA fans. Please share, retweet, repost, etc., if you enjoy my articles.
Thanks to Her Hoop Stats and Across the Timeline for being great resources.
Photo Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography

Social Media:
Follow me on Bluesky (@wnbastormchasers.bsky.social)
Follow me on Threads (@WNBAStormChasers)
Follow me on X/Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser)